Photography

And Now We'll Talk About Josh

So yesterday we learned why my hair will be gray in two short years. Josh is a better driver than Becky even though he's two years younger, but that's mostly because he's had a lot more experience. He's been mowing lawns for a few years, and this involves backing the lawn tractor in and out of the shed.

But there was a day that Josh was new at driving as well.

One of the first times that Josh mowed the lawn, he was driving Pappy's lawn mower. We turned Josh loose in the orchard because we figured if he messed it up, it wouldn't really be a big deal. He drove around and around, and back and forth, and up and down and even tossed in a zig-zag for good measure. When he was finished, he put the lawn tractor back in Pappy's garage and marched himself right home.

It was when Sam came home from work that we realized Josh's dirty little secret. He ran over a tree. We're talking a 5' tree. Run over. Mowed down in it's prime. Gone.

Lawn mowers are amazing things. The husband and his brothers were known to do wheelies across their front lawn, jump it off ramps and drag race cars up the street. It still runs perfectly, so I imagine a measly little 5' tree was more traumatizing for the driver than the tractor.

Yeah.. but at least he didn't mow down a protected cactus in a golf cart because he didn't know how to brake. And yet I turned ou to be a pretty darned good driver! (I also credit riding where you have to be so aware of so many things to be a safe and effective rider, ya know?)

I'm with Sarah in wondering about the mower! I am assuming it came out of the whole event unscathed, and I am guessing that Josh is the type of boy who can't walk past something lying on the ground without giving it a good kick.

That? is the perfect way to learn to drive! I guess all the kids in my family learned on a riding lawnmower and/or a tractor. I know I was mowing on one as early as 9 or 10 and my dad would put my little girls on his, put it in low gear and turn then loose as young as 4. They loved it and learned very quickly. Then of course going driving in a car or pickup in the country was right behind it.